10

Date:

? - ? - Earth Bet Time

While still sporting his placid expression Admin answered, "Because I need your help."

"My help?" asked Taylor, confusedly.

"Yes. Yours."

"But why?"

Here Administrator lost most of his grin, turning it into a thoughtful frown. "You are in a unique position, that would allow me to achieve my goals."

Taylor couldn't help but feel hurt. "So you're using me?"

"Yes, and no." came the quick answer. "I have my goals, Taylor, but that doesn't mean I can't help you achieve yours."

Taylor looked into Admin's eyes, who held it with surprising calmness. Yet Taylor could feel a lot of things left out.

After Emma, and after Winslow, she made a vow to herself not to trust anybody else like that. And here she was, being asked to trust someone telling her the weirdest things. Yet the lure of the powers was something she couldn't discount.

She closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath. Trying to organize her chaotic thoughts.

She took a few minutes to go over everything she heard. Thankfully, Admin stayed silent, letting her sort out her thoughts. It was kinda nice of him, thought Taylor.

But in the end, she tried to get more out of her supposed power.

She opened her eyes and asked the most important question. "What are you not telling me?"

Admin chuckled and answered. "A lot, Taylor. So much, you couldn't even imagine."

Taylor just huffed. "Let me guess, you have a reason for it?"

"Of course." Admin gave her a quick grin and then continued. "Most of it is not relevant at the moment."

Taylor just looked back incredulously.

"What, can't a guy have a private life?" asked Admin, with an innocent look on his face.

Taylor quietly crossed her arms as a response. Then tried to replicate her mother's glare when she was angry at her dad.

Seeing her actions, Admin just gave her an apologetic grin and shrugged his nonexistent shoulders. How that worked, Taylor didn't know.

"Alright," he began. "I can't tell you everything right now, because you wouldn't be able to handle it."

Taylor opened her mouth to rebuke him, but he preempted her. "It's not like; you are not old enough." Taylor closed her mouth and waited for him to continue. Still glaring at him, but allowing a chance for explanation.

"It is just," here he paused as if collecting himself, "if I told you everything outright, it would crush you. You simply wouldn't be able to make sense of it," he finished with an ominous tone.

Taylor could only blink at that declaration.

"Plus, I have enemies. Enemies that would crush you without a thought if they find out you know about them."

"Enemies? You? A Power?" she asked. "How is that possible?"

"Sadly, that is the part you wouldn't get."

She couldn't say anything to that. She just sat there, wondering how her life got so weird.

"Of course, that doesn't mean I won't explain things," he smiled at her reassuringly, "but let's take this one step at a time, alright?"

The reassuring smile turned into a hesitant one when she refused to smile back. She just quirked one of her eyebrows questioningly. "And pray tell, what is the first step?"

Admin nodded and spoke again. "Let me finish my explanation about your power and we can go over what I want you to do."

She thought about it a little, but seeing no downside of it, nodded and took the pen up again. Despite being angry and incredibly confused by the situation, she was still excited to have powers. Yet the persistent feeling that something was wrong, that something was missing, wasn't leaving her.

"You will have a bevy of Tinker powers, mostly programming, and computers," he explained. "And a few fun things I thought would interest you."

"I'll be a Tinker?" she asked.

"Yes, and thumpin' good one," he replied with a weird accent.

Deciding to ignore that, she asked her next question.

"What about, the Tinker… thing?" here she fumbled around trying to remember a half-heard word, "Where they have to build stuff?" With downcast eyes, she couldn't help to add to it. "And it's not like we are rich enough to buy stuff for building."

"Tinker Compulsion." came the reply from the blue slime. "And don't worry about it, you won't have it."

"But every Tinker has it!"

"Yes, and you don't."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

She was getting fed up with his attitude. She couldn't really point out what was wrong with it, but it was seriously grating on her.

"Can't you just straight up answer a question?" she bitingly asked.

The little slime drooped down a little, the easygoing expression on his face leaving for a second. He quickly recovered his usual smile back on his face.

"Of course, Taylor, I'm simply having a little fun."

"I don't want to have fun," she retorted, almost yelling, "I just want to know what's going on!"

"Calm down, Taylor, no need to yell." came the gentle rebuke from Admin.

Realizing that she was close to losing herself, she took a few calming breaths. After a few seconds of this, she managed to calm down and returned her attention to him.

"The simplest explanation is, that I'm not constrained by the same rules as those powers. So I can choose not to give you the compulsion."

"That's it?" she asked incredulously.

"Well," he started hesitatingly, "I also like you, so I wanted to make it easy for you."

"You like me?" asked Taylor, as if the very concept was alien to her.

"Indeed," he said.

"You are a nice girl who was given a bad hand by fate and I'm here to add a few aces to that hand." he gave her a gentle look and continued. "How you use that hand, is up to you."

Taylor couldn't help but feel nice after that. Yet something still kept niggling her. The very fact that somebody was planning to help her was a welcome relief and a suspicious act in itself. Once bitten, twice shy, as the saying goes.

Keeping her apprehension to herself, for now, she waited for Admin to continue the explanation.

Taking the hint, he did just that. "I will also open portals for you anywhere on Earth as a Mover power. And I will give you a pocket space where you can store whatever you want safely."

"Anywhere?"

"Yes, anywhere you wish," he answered.

To her sounded awesome. The ability to go anywhere in the world, visit places that were otherwise inaccessible to her. Just the thought made her happy. That all paled compared to the pocket space. Space where she could store everything precious that was priceless to her.

The thought of using this could've prevented the destruction of her mother's flute, and her school stuff was weighing heavily on her. It seemed she would have the solution for all of her problems, only after the problems themselves become irrelevant.

It was a rather annoying feeling. As if Admin was mocking her with these powers.

"Anything else?" she asked snidely.

"Only two powers left!" came the cheery answer.

"The first is flying."

Taylor couldn't help herself. "Flying? Really? I would love to fly!"

"I know." smiled Admin. "And of course, I left the best for last!"

She raised an eyebrow as an answer. "What would that be?"

Admin smiled at her and tapped the blackboard, where everything vanished, leaving an empty surface. He tapped it again, and a word wrote itself out slowly without him saying anything.

Electrokinesis.

That brought up her short. She obviously knew what it meant; the control of electricity. It sounded powerful. From the top of her head, she could've listed several applications. Still waiting for the other shoe to drop, she looked at the smiling slime.

"Is it powerful?"

"It is," he answered readily. "I prepared a veritable smorgasbord of a power for you."

"Yes, but how powerful is it, really?" she asked with desperation. The thought of having the power to make a difference. To help people. To help her father. She wanted it. She wanted it desperately.

"Let me put it this way," Admin began explaining. Using one of his stubby hands, he scratched where his chins should be. "After some considerable training, you would be a match for anyone in the Bay."

"When you say match, what do you mean?"

Administrator gave her a knowing smile and then said, "You will be able to step on anyone you want." His grin turned a little bloodthirsty. "and they will thank you for it."

That sounded promising, but she couldn't feel too excited about it. Something inside her was telling her that it was too good. That something like this doesn't just fall out of the sky. Not for her.

As she pondered, Admin was still hovering in place, sometimes bobbing or shifting a little. A smile still on his face, waiting for her to respond.

Looking at it, she thought it was all so bland. Nothing in the background. No noises, average temperature, average everything. Even herself, as if she was looking at the situation from far afar.

She was almost murdered. And she was talking, arguing with a sentient blob of mucus, as if it was an everyday thing!

Then the realization hit her.

"What did you do?!" she whispered, not even noticing standing up. "What did you do to me?"

Admin blinked at her, surprised. "What?"

"What are you doing to me?" she repeated, striding forward in anger. "I have been feeling weird since I woke up." She was now up to his face. "So let me ask again! What. Are. You. Doing. To. Me?"

"I don't understand, Taylor," he said, confused. "Are you feeling unwell? My diagnostics-" Taylor didn't let him finish. "Your diagnostics? You are monitoring me?"

"Well yes, as your power, I have to make sure you are in an excellent condition," he answered a little testily.

Taylor didn't know what she was feeling, but it was getting harder and harder to feel it. As if something was sapping away her will to fight. To protect herself.

"And stop doing that!" she cried. "Stop doing whatever you are doing to me!"

"Doing what?"

"My emotions," she said, looking directly into his eyes. "I have been feeling weird since we met as if something was missing. And now. I was angry, but it is going away. I can feel it slip away."

"Taylor." his voice was flat, but the tone was as if he was explaining something to a child. "You have been through a tremendous ordeal. I suppressed them, to have a productive discussion." He gave her a wry smile. "I thought I would let you have a mental breakdown after we are finished."

The only thing she could feel was shock. The thought of somebody messing with her to that level shook her to the core. The thought of how easy was for Admin to manipulate her and her emotion chilled her to the bone.

She looked down at her feet, and the adorable socks with flying multicolored slimes. Took a deep breath and looked back at Administrator.

"Stop it."

"Stop what?" he asked.

"Stop whatever you are doing to my emotions!" she yelled, now again frustrated at his obtuseness.

"If I do that, you will not like it."

The answer came out of Taylor as a half sob. "I don't care!"

"Taylor, I just wanted to help you."

"You had no right to do that to me!"

Taylor felt cold and hot at the same time. She felt betrayed. Again. Here she was, getting told she had a parahuman power. And now this. Her own power, trying to tell her what to do. What to feel.

She turned her back to Admin because she couldn't keep the lid on her emotions while looking at him. Not that she really wanted to. Yet she could feel it trying to leave her, leaving her empty.

She didn't know how long she stood there. Resolutely staring at the too-perfect rolling hills, waiting for Admin to do something. Anything.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he spoke up.

"Are you sure?"

She didn't even need to think about it. It was her life. Her emotions. And it was time she took it back from all those people who wanted to control her. Make her think, feel what they wanted.

She had enough of that.

Thinking back to those days, where she just stood, not saying a word. Taking everything. Letting people walk over her.

Well, it was time to put an end to it.

She was Taylor Hebert, daughter of Annette and Daniel Hebert, and this was her first step.

"Yes," she said simply while closing her eyes in preparation.

Admin only sighed.

"As you wish."